


Best in Class

by Norberts_Mom



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Best Friends, F/M, High School AU, everlark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 07:26:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8003701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Norberts_Mom/pseuds/Norberts_Mom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Best friends Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark get a surprise at their class awards ceremony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best in Class

“You’re late, Mellark,” Katniss complains, scowling at her approaching friend.

 “Sorry,” Peeta replies, holding out a bakery bag as compensation, tilting his head to the side and giving her puppy dog eyes.

 “I’m starving,” Katniss grumbles as she grabs the bag out of his hand, tearing it open and inhaling deeply before closing her eyes and letting out a sigh.

Katniss reaches into the bag and pulls out two cheesebuns and hands one to Peeta. “Why are you dressed up?” she asks before she stuffs the other cheesebun into her mouth.

 “My mother made me go back upstairs and change,” Peeta says as he lets the backpack slip from his shoulder onto the floor before sitting down at his desk next to hers. He takes a sip from the cup of tea that Katniss placed in front of him.

 Katniss covers her mouth with her fingers and asks “Why?” around a mouthful of cheesebun.

 Peeta swallows and starts to answer, but a four-note chime rings out, followed by the cheerful voice of Assistant Principal Trinket. “Good morning, children,” she trills. “Today is going to be a very special day. Instead of your regularly scheduled classes for the last two periods, we will be having the Student Body Awards ceremony for the deserving students of the senior class.”

 As Miss Trinket drones on with the details of the awards ceremony, Peeta smirks at Katniss, raises his eyebrows and gestures down his body with his open hand. He whispers, “Mom didn’t want me looking like a slob, just in case.”

 “I forgot that was today. They’re always so boring,” Katniss gripes.

 “Hey, I could win today,” Peeta pouts. “I did win the wrestling tournament this year,” he reminds her and takes another sip of his tea.

 “Of course you’re going to win,” Katniss declares, licking the grease from her fingers. “Most athletic, most artistic, best smile,” Katniss rattles off, as she digs into the bag for another treat. “You name it. You could be up for a bunch of awards today,” she says before stuffing the last cheesebun in her mouth.

 “I didn’t know you thought so highly of me, Everdeen,” Peeta teases as Katniss’ rounded eyes meet his, her cheesebun filled cheeks turning pink. Peeta chuckles at her chipmunk imitation, shaking his head as he crumples up the empty bag Katniss left sitting on her desk. “They’re silly, though,” he complains. “It’s not like the awards mean anything except maybe to my mother. She wants another year of bragging rights.”

 “Look at it this way,” Katniss commands after swallowing down her food. “We get out of History and Chemistry today, so I say we both win.”

 “Good point,” Peeta declares with a bright smile. The bell rings, ending homeroom as Katniss and Peeta gather their trash and belongings and say their goodbyes before heading in different directions to their respective next classes.

 Katniss rolls her eyes at herself as she walks to her next class. ‘What’s gotten into you, Everdeen,’ she thinks, ‘saying those things about Peeta. It doesn’t matter if they’re true.’ She shakes her head to clear those thoughts away and decides to pretend she never said anything. ‘Peeta thought I was just kidding anyway,’ she muses.

 XXXXXXXXXX

 At lunch, Katniss and Peeta are at their usual table when their friends Johanna and Madge sit down across from them.

“So, what do you guys think about skipping the awards ceremony today?” Johanna asks.

 “Can’t,” Madge counters as she pulls her salad from her bag. “My dad asked me to be on the presentation committee.”

“You can’t get away with anything, Undersee,” Johanna complains. “It must suck having you dad as the principal.”

“Tell me about it,” Madge agrees.

 Katniss pauses from adding the rabbit meat to the slices of bread Peeta has laid out for their sandwiches. “We can’t miss it,” she declares. “Peeta could win most athletic.”

“Or best smile,” he adds cheekily, causing Katniss to scowl as she slaps the meat onto the bread.

 Madge and Johanna share a look that neither Katniss nor Peeta notice.

 “Katniss could win best scowl,” Finnick add as he joins them, setting his tray of cafeteria food down before sitting. “Seriously though, Jo,” Finnick continues. “I can’t skip either. I have it on good authority that I am up for biggest flirt,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

 “You could be up for most annoying, Jo,” Katniss states as she finishes building the sandwiches and hands one to Peeta. He hands her a bottle of water and she gives him an apple.

 “I don’t think that’s an actual award,” Madge declares. “We all filled out the ballots last week, remember. It would be funny though, don’t you think?” she says before spearing a tomato with a fork.

 “How about scariest,” Finnick suggests as Enobaria walks by, baring her teeth at him. Her canines are so pointed they look like fangs.

 They continue trying to top one another with the silliest awards they can think of until lunch is over, each heading in a different direction for their last class before the assembly.

 XXXXXXXXXX

 “Welcome, welcome,” Miss Trinket greets the assembled students from the podium on the stage in gymnasium. Madge and her father, Principal Undersee, are standing by her side. “Thank you all for joining us today on this momentous occasion.”

 “More like monotonous, if you ask me,” Johanna declares under her breath from her seat in the audience. Finnick laughs and Katniss shoves her elbow in Jo’s side as she tries and fails not to chuckle at Jo’s remark.

 As the assistant principal continues with her speech, Katniss turns to Peeta and the smile falls from her face when she sees he’s not laughing. “What’s the matter?” she asks and gets shushed by the red-headed girl behind her. Katniss glares at the girl before turning back to Peeta, raising her eyebrows in question.

 Peeta shakes his head and stares ahead towards Miss Trinket.

 Katniss knows him well enough to recognize that he’s nervous. “Hey, don’t worry,” she whispers, glancing back at the fox-faced girl before turning back to Peeta. “I’m sure you’ll win. And even if you don’t, your mom can’t give you a hard time. Like you said, they don’t mean anything.”

 “I know,” Peeta whispers back. “It’s just that my brothers both won most athletic and got their photo in the newspaper. I’m pretty sure she will be disappointed if she doesn’t get bragging rights once again.”

 “You won the wrestling tournament and several scholarships,” Katniss declare a little too loudly for the girl behind them, who lets out an exasperated sigh. Katniss cringes and mouths the word ‘Sorry’ to the girl before turning back to Peeta and whispers, “She has plenty to brag about.

 Besides, she should be proud to be the mother of the kindest soul as you, Peeta.”

 Katniss squeezes Peeta’s hand and turns to watch the award presentations, missing the look of awe on Peeta’s face, or the fact that she hasn’t let go of his hand.

 XXXXXXXXXX

 Finally, Miss Trinket starts the awards. “Our first award, Biggest Flirt, goes to,” she pauses as a drum rolls while she opens the envelope. “Finnick Odair.” Johanna slaps him on the back and the crowd cheers as Finnick goes up to collect his award. Several images of his flirting antics appear on the large screens on either side of the stage. Katniss is even in one photo. It’s from the homecoming parade when Finnick offered her a sugar cube that was supposed to be for the horses.

 Finnick makes his way back to his seat as a girl name Glimmer Harbring wins Most Attractive, much to displeasure of the girls surrounding her. According to the photos displayed, she did win homecoming queen, and Miss Panem.

Beetee Latier wins Biggest Techie. His photos show various scenarios of him in front of a computer, or building something that looks suspiciously like it could electrocute someone.

The awards go on and on, Katniss and Peeta are still holding hands as they anxiously wait for the most athletic award.

Finnick wins again, this time for best smile. His dimples surely helped put him over the top. Katniss was secretly glad that it wasn’t Peeta, so he couldn’t tease her again for mentioning his smile during homeroom.

 Peeta does wins Most Artistic as she had predicted, and Katniss cheers the loudest as he goes to collect his award. The photos displayed show several of his paintings, one of which Katniss has never seen. It depicts a beautiful young woman with Katniss’ coloring emerging from a gray mist that matches her eyes exactly.

When Peeta returns to his seat he gives her a smile so genuinely sweet, with just the right touch of shyness that an unexpected warmth runs through her. Katniss raises her eyebrows at him in question, but Peeta just shrugs and looks ahead with the smile still lingering on his face.

 Katniss is still watching Peeta when she hears Miss Trinket announce, “And now for our next award, The Cutest Couple goes to...” The drum rolls as she opens the envelope to declare, “Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!”

Katniss and Peeta both look at each other with wide eyes, stunned, not moving from their seats.

Miss Trinket shades her eyes against the spotlight and looks out into the crowd as she calls out, “Where are you, children? Come along.”

Johanna leans over and bellows, “Get up there, lovebirds.” as she and the red haired girl behind them shoves them both forward.

Katniss and Peeta both stumble side-by-side down the aisle toward the stage. Katniss’ eyes are locked on the screen in front of her, which is showing pictures of her and Peeta together. The first photo she sees is them sharing their morning breakfast in homeroom, big smiles on both of their faces. The next shows them holding hands while riding on the senior class homecoming float. They were both afraid they would fall out, but Katniss didn’t think anyone had noticed their hand holding.

As they reach the front of the stage, a photo comes up showing Peeta giving Katniss a piggy back ride down the school halls. Katniss had bruised her left heel last winter by jumping out of a tree into a snowbank. Despite the fact that she had had crutches, Peeta carried her to class after homeroom and lunch for weeks while she recovered.

As they climb the stairs, the next photo comes up. It shows Katniss standing on her tiptoes kissing a bruise on Peeta’s cheek. Coach Abernathy had accidentally elbowed Peeta in the face earlier that day and Katniss had joked that she would kiss it and make it all better. She never saw the look on his face at the time, but now she sees a look of pure joy and astonishment.

They climb the stairs, neither looking at the other until Miss Trinket turns them around to face the crowd and instructs them to hold hands. Katniss looks over to Peeta. He’s looking at her with that shy smile on his face that she can never resist. She takes his hand and the crowd cheers.

‘It’s OK,’ Katniss tells herself. ‘These awards don’t mean anything. We can go along with it.’ She doesn’t resist when Peeta raises their joined hands over their heads and the crowd cheers louder. They’re both smiling brightly when a chant starts up suspiciously from the area Johanna and Finnick are seated. Katniss tries to ignore it, but the chant gets louder. “Kiss, kiss, kiss,” the chant goes.

“Go ahead, children,” Miss Trinket commands, tapping her finger against the back of her wrist. “We have to move this ceremony along. We have a schedule to keep.”

As they drop their hands, Katniss shyly looks over to Peeta, who is studying her intently. ‘How about that kiss,’ he mouths. And she bursts out laughing before grabbing his lapels and pulling him in for a kiss. The crowd goes wild. It’s the first time she’s ever kissed a boy, which should make some kind of an impression, but all she can register is that everyone in the whole school is watching. She pulls away quickly and grabs Peeta’s hand and rushes off the side of the stage. Peeta grabs the award from Miss Trinket as they make their getaway.

The hoots and hollers from the crowd begin to die down as they find a secluded spot to talk backstage, but Katniss can’t seem to make eye contact with Peeta. Kissing him could change everything. For all she knows, Peeta didn’t feel anything.

“Katniss look at me please,” he begs. She looks up through her eyelashes and he continues, “Remember, these awards don’t mean anything. People just jumped to conclusions.”

“Is that really how you see me?” Katniss asks, changing the subject. “That picture with the silver mist. That was me, wasn’t it?”

“Of course that how I see you, Katniss,” he exclaims, stepping closer. “You know, I voted for you for a few of the awards.”

“Which awards?” Katniss asks, afraid of the answer, because she voted for him too.

“Best smile,” he starts, but Katniss shakes her head, ironically smiling. “No really, you have the most beautiful smile Katniss. You should do it more often.”

“What else?” she whispers, moving closer.

“Most attractive,” he declares closing the distance between them. “You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met. Not just your face,” he murmurs as he runs his thumb down her cheek. “You have a beautiful soul, Katniss, the way you care for those who matter to you.”

She looks into his eyes and sees the same twinkle she has seen for as long as she can remember, never recognizing the love until this very moment. She pulls him down for a lingering kiss. ‘This should have been our first kiss,’ she thinks, ‘away from the crowd.’ This kiss stirs feelings in her chest, warm and curious, making her want another. They continue to kiss until someone nearby clears their throat. It’s Madge.

Katniss’ mind is still swirling from the emotions the kissing brought out, but Peeta seems to have found his bearings and asks Madge, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be on stage helping Miss Trinket with the awards? Is it over?”

“I’m here to bring you back out on stage, Peeta,” Madge declares with a smirk. “You won Most Athletic. Miss Trinket sent me back here to find you when you didn’t come out at the announcement. Too bad we didn’t have an award for best kiss, though” she laments, fanning herself, “because that would have won for sure.”

Madge laughs when both Katniss and Peeta’s faces turn bright red.

Katniss hugs Peeta and whispers, “I knew you would win. I told you, didn’t I?”

“Yes you did, Sweetheart,” Peeta agrees, pulling her in for another kiss.

“Come on, Loverboy,” Madge demands as she pulls him away from Katniss.

Katniss watches from the side of the stage as Peeta receives his Most Athletic award. His mother may be happy that she gets her bragging rights for another year, but she’s not going to be pleased with the photo of Peeta with messed up hair and swollen lips on the front page of the District Gazette.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. This was originally written for everlarkbirthdaydrabbles on tumblr for September 6th.
> 
> All characters and canon elements belong to Suzanne Collins. Many thanks to Mega-aulover for cheerleading and prereading.


End file.
